Loser Protagonist Hikari
by Candy Maiden
Summary: As Lieutenant Switch Week comes for the Seireitei, the 1st Division 3rd Seat falls for Renji. Of course, not after some lightning strikes, family drama, and bankai. And then some more drama. Renji/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Oh look, another OC story. As much as I love regular pairings, I just can't write a decent story with them. Ha… anyway, yes, it IS a story set in the future (by only a few years) so Ichigo is a Captain and the war is over, etc.**

**ALSO, a big thanks to Totoromo for letting me use the idea of switching lieutenants. She's a great writer, you should definitely check out Gin's Notebook, Friend, Foe, or F… mate, and of course, Lieutenant for a Week.**

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Hikari always hated the tea ceremonies she'd had to put up with for the past 2 decades of her life. She only liked the fact that when she was an unranked member she got to sit in the back and not pay attention. She lacked friends, and although she disliked that, it meant no one bothered her or cared if she even never showed. Yet, Captain Yamamoto always found out and she was punished each time.

When she became seated, that's when she became angry. Even at the 10th Seat, she still didn't like sitting up in the front. Now, as a 3rd Seat, she sat to the left of Captain Yamamoto, Lieutenant Sasakibe on the right. She knew he disliked these ceremonies as well, but he didn't have to be as dressed up as she was. The unseated members just got to wear their shinigami uniforms, but those in the 20 Seats up had to wear the special ceremonial kimono.

Captain Yamamoto always liked to do some lighthearted teasing on his 3rd Seat, Hikari. She was his great-granddaughter, and she didn't like the stigma that came with that. He always made a point to point out their kinship every chance he got, especially during the tea ceremonies. It got to the point where it was almost in every conversation, as if it was blasphemy if people did not know she was a 'proud member of the Shigekuni Yamamoto clan!'.

She let out a sigh as it finally came to an end; her white hair was pulled into a very tight bun and decorated, and it was starting to itch and hurt. The kimono itself was tight as well, and was very hot. She wandered out into the garden when they were finally dismissed formally. She groaned out of frustration as she could barely walk in the ungodly sandals she wore, and balanced herself against a tree.

The fresh air hadn't done what she had hoped, and she was still ridiculously hot. Sasakibe had come out as well, and she always had to stifle a laugh when she saw him in the ceremonial kimono; it was a light blue kimono with pink floral patterns. _At least he didn't put flowers in his moustache._ Hikari let out an involuntary giggle at this; her zanpakuto didn't particularly like Chojiro. "Hm? What's so funny, 3rd Seat?" He asked her as she stopped giggling, and she smirked.

She didn't enjoy any of the names she was called. She couldn't be called Yamamoto due to the fact that her great-grandfather was also a Shigekuni Yamamoto; the middle name had been passed to everybody born into the family, and the last name lived on. It was either the informal Hikari, or 3rd Seat, or 3rd Seat Yamamoto. She just shook her head, and walked away. She still couldn't take Sasakibe seriously, although he was a pretty smart man. Both liked to discuss Western culture and society.

She wandered back into the main office of the 1st Division, planning to inform her Captain that she was going to head home and possibly never come back. She walked into the office, surprised to see Captain Kurosaki and Lieutenant Izuru with him. "Should I come back later…?" She asked, forgetting the manners instilled in her. The Captain-Commander just chuckled, and motioned her inside.

She felt awkward being in the room; her azure eyes tried to stay focused on her great-grandfathers desk, but she couldn't. She kept glancing back at Kira's flipped hair. It didn't help as her zanpakuto was also making jokes about it. She bowed to her higher ranks, hoping she could keep her childish giggles to herself this time.

"We were just finalizing some paperwork. Izuru is being transferred to the 13th Division, and we're transferring one of ours to the 3rd Division to be the new lieutenant. But, this change won't happen until after the Lieutenant Switch Week coming up." Hikari just nodded along with the others, not really understanding why she was in there. Probably just to be joke fodder to her kin.

"We're transferring you to the 3rd Division. I feel you've trained and advanced enough to fill the position. Besides, your nature and specialties fit into that division better than you do here, anyway. I will expect you to be fully prepared to move in 10 days time, on the 15th. You are still responsible as the 3rd Seat of the First Division until then, though. Do you understand?" He had taken a serious turn that surprised Hikari. She was stunned; she never expected to advance further. She thought she had gotten to where she was now solely because of her great-grandfather; she was nearly nowhere strong enough to be a 3rd seat in her mind.

She nodded, giving a small yes. For the first time in awhile, her zanpakuto was speechless. "Good. We'll be receiving Renji Abarai as our lieutenant in 2 days, so be prepared for that change as well. All of you are dismissed." He officially said, handing papers to Izuru and Ichigo. They hurried out, but Hikari stayed in the office, her light blue eyes meeting the red ones that reminded her of her own father and younger brother.

He gave her an expectant gaze, but she just shook her head, walking out. She stopped as she saw the poster for this years change-up in Lieutenants. It was just a reason for Yamamoto to cause havoc and have some fun, as were the rest of his 'team-building holidays'. She read down the list:

1st: Renji Abarai (6th)

2nd: Shuhei Hisagi (9th)

3rd: Rangiku Matsumoto (10th)

4th: Rukia Kuchiki (13th)

5th: Marechiyo Omaeda (2nd)

6th: Yachiru Kasajishi (11th)

7th: Isane Kotetsu (4th)

8th: Nemu Kurotsuchi (12th)

9th: Kira Izuru (3rd)

10th: Chojiro Sasakibe (1st)

11th: Momo Hinamori (5th)

12th: Nanao Ise (8th)

13th: Tetsuzaemon Iba (7th)

_An odd list. It doesn't sound as fun as it has been recently. I still miss Yachiru…_ Her zanpakuto trailed off, thinking the same that Hikari was. She just absently continued on her way to her home in the barracks. She wished Sasakibe had gotten 11th Squad, but she knew there'd be fun stories from there anyway, considering they got a girl who's scared of blood.

She had changed into her normal shinigami uniform, sans her zanpakuto. She didn't like the constant nagging of him… her… it. She could never tell what it was based on its voice, and it never answered her directly; only vaguely. It didn't help that it was a partridge and not a human manifestation. It had become attached recently to the idea of achieving bankai, something Hikari wasn't all that interested in. She knew other 3rd, and even 4th Seats had achieved it; she was about to become a lieutenant and had yet to unlock it.

She sighed as she stepped outside once again. It was sunset, and since it was Friday, all the other 1st Division members were out having fun, drinking, or both. She never drank; no desire to. When she tried, she couldn't stand the incessant squawking of her zanpakuto; Raichou didn't enjoy alcohol or inebriation, it seemed. She looked up at the sky, and the lack of clouds. She twirled her long white hair in her fingers. The glow from the sky had made her hair seem a strange combination of pinkish orange and she liked it. She sincerely hoped there would be a storm that night as there hadn't been one in quite some time, but she had no such luck. She sighed yet again, heading inside as it grew darker and darker. She had no interest in strolling through the Seireitei as normal, nor hanging out with the few people she knew.

The weekend was fairly uneventful, and still no storm. She got up early on Monday however, ready for a fun change. Although she had had no previous interaction with Lieutenant Abarai, she had heard he was a fun guy but still serious when it mattered. Her zanpakuto had been bugging her all weekend about doing actions that weren't short of outright stalking him, but Hikari kept her distance.

She walked into her Captains main office, greeted with a hesitant Sasakibe and no sign of Lieutenant Abarai. She sulked in, disheartened. "What, are you scared of some little kid? I'm kinda surprised, considering your moustache." Hikari teased Chojiro, doing it just to get a reaction. He snickered at her, lacking a witty response, as usual. Everyone was so serious in her division, it freaked her out. She was shot a glare from Yamamoto, and she just shrugged as she took to standing to the left of him. She wanted to meet the new Lieutenant before retreating to her office. Work actually got done in the 1st Division.

Sasakibe sighed, and just decided to leave. It was met with no response from either in the room; after a full 10 minutes, Hikari was growing impatient. She had taken to groaning at each 5 minute increment and twirling her thin, stark white hair. "You need to develop patience. Even Atsuto has some, and he's half your age." Yamamoto scolded her with her weak spot: her younger brother, whom she was not fond of. He actually worked to get to he top of his class while Hikari just got lucky to be in Shino Academy at the time the war was raging, leaving many students to die on missions or drop out. It's easy to graduate top of a class with only 4 other students.

Finally, the doors to the main office opened again, and Hikari didn't realize she had been holding her breath in anticipation as a figure strolled in. The morning sun silhouetted him, and they didn't see who it was until he closed the doors behind him. Their suspicions were correct as they saw a tall, grinning man with sunglasses resting on his forehead. Yamamoto didn't even say anything; all he did was nod to acknowledge his presence, and walked away, heading to his own office. Hikari stood there a moment, extremely pissed off at how he always scolded her for not being polite, while he just got to walk off like that.

She glanced back at the man who looked nothing like she expected; all she knew was that he had red hair, as she had only seen him from behind once. He looked to be as pissed off as she was; only she wasn't seething like he was. She gave him a smile, not really knowing what to say. "Um, welcome to the First Division. Uh, Captain Yamamoto must have something very important to attend to, I guess, he's normally much more polite…" She trailed off, noticing he had regained composure.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" She almost ran to him and drop kicked him. Well, that'd be hard considering he had a height advantage on her, but she could still try. She just took a deep breath and fought back the urge to carry out what Raichou was threatening him with. "I'm 3rd Seat Hikari Shigekuni-Yamamoto. In exactly one week, however, I'll become the Lieutenant of the Third Division." She bragged, crossing her arms with a smug face, and headed into the Lieutenant's and 3rd Seat's shared office. She silently thanked Sasakibe for not doing most of his work, leaving piles of paperwork for Abarai to complete.

She heard an immediate sound of a door being knocked on rather loudly, forced open, and an argument between Abarai and Yamamoto. Hikari was still grinning as the new, yet temporary, lieutenant walked into their shared (but rather large) office. Perks of being in the 1st Division, she just assumed. He sat down at his designated desk, fuming with anger.

"I guess I should've told you, there's no point in arguing with my great-grandfather. He's right, even when we all know he's wrong." She told him, doing it solely to irritate him. She got irritated herself after a few seconds of no reaction, so she tried again with the pushing of Raichou. "So tell me, Lieutenant Abarai, what'd you two fight about?" She prodded him, still getting nothing. She huffed in a breath, thinking as she continued on her paperwork. She kept glancing at him; he was playing with a few pens on the desk, but not working.

It was silent for another hour or two, with random members coming in and dropping paperwork off on his desk to not be completed. As usual, because of her quick (yet sloppy) handwriting, Hikari was finished by lunch. She had noticed the lieutenant was growing impatient, and was actually carving shapes into the desk. She stood up, walking to stand in front of the semi-destroyed desk. She peered at the carvings. Some were copies of the tribal tattoos he had; others were pictures of him stabbing hollows. Well, that's what she assumed they were.

"He threatened you with his zanpakuto, didn't he? He does that every year. If someone doesn't like to do paperwork and takes it up with him, he always has an argument with them. They all end up just sitting in here doing nothing. Well, except the times we had Izuru and Yachiru." She laughed at the memories, and saw Renji looked up at her. His brown eyes pierced into her own light blue ones, and she honestly felt put off by it. "Do you want to have lunch with me, Lieutenant Abarai? I've finished all my work-" She was cut off. "It's Renji. And no thank you." He grumbled out the last part, getting up and taking his leave with that said.

Hikari felt extremely annoyed, and had no idea what to do.

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**A/N: Well, I honestly don't know how this turned out. Please make me aware of any mistakes you find, I'd appreciate it.**

**And before anyone claims Sue, ugh. No. I would've loved to make her da mst powerfull shinagammi evaaar and totes buteefull and evry 1 luvs her but its lyk a curse cuz shes so pretty and cuzz shes da greatgrrNDQUGHTER of yamato.**

**Yeah, no thank you. I actually think Hikari's pretty weak. But hey, any improvements are welcome, but don't comment on something that has been met with no rational explanation yet. Seriously, I want to be the M. Night Shyamalan of fan fiction, without the sucking part.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, thanks to Totoromo, and remember to check out their stories.**

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It was maybe 20 minutes before Renji came back after Hikari had come back from lunch herself. She had taken a stack of papers off his desk to work on, and smiled up at Renji. He saw her, stopped in his tracks, and turned around to walk out. She assumed he had something else to do.

She had finished all the papers she could by herself by the time she usually left, which was still quite early, maybe 4 or so. She liked to be engaged, even if it was something as menial and tedious as paperwork. She collected herself and headed out. She didn't bother saying goodbye to anybody else; she learned the other seated members hated how easy it was for her to do paperwork, and she heard Nanao Ise in her Captain's office, yelling about how she didn't want to be a test subject for some 'libido enhancing' serum Mayuri was creating.

She headed out into the neatly kept gardens of the 1st Division. Every Division had four grounds that were common in each one; the main offices, barracks, training grounds, and the gardens. Now, not all Divisions took care of their gardens, especially the 11th Division. But, the 6th, 1st, and 3rd took theirs seriously and even had members designated as groundskeepers of sorts. Hikari spent a lot of time in the 1st Divisions gardens since they had a large variety of species, and the fact it was massive.

She greeted each of the low ranking members as she passed them, being polite. When she got to the spot that was as close to the middle of the maze-like of the gardens as she liked, she sat down on the ornate bench placed there. She admired the flora before reaching into her robes to take out a velvet bag full of bird seed. She spread some on the ground, waiting for the birds to come. She did this when she had nothing better to do, which was quite frequent.

She had a fairly large uniform, larger than she needed. She kept her inner shitagi on tight, but her hakama and kosode were loose, so keeping her kosode sleeves rolled up was a challenge; it didn't help they came off her shoulders. She removed her beaded necklace she received a few years ago from her mother, tying it around her sleeve to keep it up. She put some of the seed on her arm and hand, holding it out. She couldn't do bird calls, but she had done this enough that the birds took that as a symbol meaning she wanted a bird to come closer.

She sighed when they all looked at her, but left suddenly. She didn't know why, but she stayed in that position, expecting them to just be playing a game. _You're kinda stupid, Hikari, kid. They probably felt a spiritual pressure or something else that scared them. They ain't coming back. _She snickered at her rude zanpakuto. 'I don't feel a spiritual pressure-' She was cut off by her own subconscious. _Frankly, you suck at paying attention to your surroundings. You're lucky you have me; otherwise you would've never graduated._ She frowned; Raichou was partially correct.

Bickering with her zanpakuto until both finally gave up and remained quiet for awhile, she heard a loud and fierce call of sorts. She looked up and, for some reason, down, behind her, and everywhere else until she got up and, with her bag of bird seed falling out and spilling its contents, a large stellar eagle swooped onto her arm. It drove its beak into her arm, attempting to fly off. Its beak was caught in her arm where the bird seed was earlier, and adding in the flailing panicked movements of Hikari, was struggling to get off. It finally tore its beak out, blood spilling out as Hikari lay on the ground.

The time it took being stuck in Hikari's arm, before the realization and subsequently pain arose, allowed her to recognize the keer she heard and the eagle embedded into her arm was a Red-Tailed Hawk… so not an eagle at all.

Gasping for air, as it was knocked out of her when she fell to the ground, she tried to stand; nothing was comprehensible beyond that point. She couldn't make out any thoughts, and couldn't understand what her zanpakuto was saying, or rather, screaming. She stood up after she shook her head to clear it.

Her frown remained when she examined her arm. It wasn't too bad, but pieces of flesh were hanging out and she could see it was pretty deep. She knew she should've started wearing those arm guards everybody else wore.

She sighed for the umpteenth time that day, picked up her velvet bag, and packed it back into her shitagi. She headed towards the 4th Division. All the groundskeepers, err, low-ranked shinigami, gaped at the wound on her arm. She didn't really have any feeling, so she couldn't say she was wincing in pain. She was trying to apologize to them about the fact she was tracking blood everywhere, but she stopped when she saw Renji, Captain Yamamoto, and another Lieutenant that Hikari couldn't recognize in front of the main office building.

Heading over there, it garnered attention first from Captain Yamamoto. Shaking his head, he said nothing, but the two other lieutenants turned to see what exactly was more interesting than their exploits. "What the hell happened to you?" The unidentifiable lieutenant asked; she assumed he was hanging around Renji because they both wore sunglasses. She just shrugged, causing some of the blood to squirt out with the movement of her muscles. "I think a hawk attacked me. It happened fast, so I'm not certain." She nodded along with herself, beginning on her journey to the 4th Division.

'How the hell do you not know if a hawk attacked you or not?' the same thought went through the three man's heads.

"Lieutenant Abarai, accompany this awfully clumsy youngster. Lieutenant Iba, we can discuss matters further, inside. Follow," Yamamoto ordered, going inside the office. Hikari didn't stop walking; Yamamoto used every opportunity to make things awkward for her. He had 'assigned' many different people to stay with her, as he knew she wasn't a socialable person. She wasn't clumsy either, just… unlucky. _No, you're clumsy. Also a bit unlucky. I heard it's common for people with blue eyes._

The trip to the 4th Division seemed exceedingly longer than it really was; Renji kept trying to start a conversation, but Hikari didn't know that. Her answers, if she answered at all, were a bit off-putting. He quickly derailed in terms of topics; it started with apologies for his actions earlier as he was not a 'morning person'.

"You know, I can never seem to find the cute shinigami, 'cuz everybody says they're locked up in the first division doin' paperwork. But, from what I've seen, all you have are creepy old men and ugly girls." Renji stuck his nose up in disgust, and Hikari just shrugged.

"Does your arm hurt?" Renji kept trying to talk; Hikari thought about the rumors about Renji. The rumors about him actually being nice seemed true now, especially since he wasn't like homicidal man he was earlier.

"It feels like it's kinda numb." Hikari held up her arm closer to her face, "And it also smells like Harlan's Hawk." Her eyes narrowed, and then she quickly swiped her arm down to her side, splattering blood on the ground as her pace increased. She had a fierce look upon her face. Renji had a confused one.

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Renji was not shy of blood, nor was Hikari, but the way she treated it once they were in the 4th Division was…. well, he had no words for it. The 4th Division officer attending to Hikari did, however. "That's creepy. Really, you shouldn't be doing that…" the man was trying to convince Hikari, but she kept on painting pictures with her blood.

At first, Renji found the stick figure she drew to be a bit funny, and when she _must have_ drawn inspiration from his desk carvings earlier by drawing a hollow, he found it also funny.

But by the time half of the captains and lieutenants in the Seireitei were drawn against an epic amount of hollows, his face drained. As did Hikari's, but for a different reason.

She merely shook her head, finding the suggestion to stop to be foolish.

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The walk back to the 1st Division was a quiet one for Hikari- she walked briskly while Renji walked casually, saying hi to the familiar faces that passed by him. Hikari stopped and Renji slowly walked up to stand beside her; she was about at his shoulders. Her head hung down.

"Why are you here, Lieutenant Abarai?" her voice came out a bit colder than she intended. It was a sudden mood swing from drawing cute little pictures of shinigami and hollow wars.

"Because Captain-Commander Yamamoto asked me to? It also gets me out of that damn work…" Renji laughed, beginning to walk again.

"The human existence is a highly overrated phenomenon, Lieutenant Abarai." Hikari began walking, too, but trying to match the strides of Renji seemed a bit difficult for her; she was a bit disoriented.

"Did you say somethin'?" He looked down at Hikari who shook her head. "Nope. But um, thanks for taking me to the 4th Division. Hey, do you want to go pull a prank on 11th Division? If you tear up one of Yachiru's uniforms and leave them in a trail towards the 12th, Captain Zaraki will go crazy and wreck the place!" Hikari was excited; she hadn't done this since last year's Lieutenant Switch Week when she became good friends with Yachiru.

Renji grinned.

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**Oh yay, it's finally finished. Now your life is complete, correct?**

**Oh, it isn't…? Maybe it will be when you leave any suggestions, comments, or lyrics to a love song from Hikari to Renji?**

**Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you continue to do so!**


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